John, good question, and good choice! In the amazing Sherwood orchard of another past friend, I not only added to her collection of apples by yearly grafting, I had many occasions to try fruit from about 20 different old apple varieties.

At times, I felt ashamed of myself Alone, I'd march from tree to tree (in weekly intervals) biting into the best looking apple I could reach. Iâ€™d chomp into it, spit it out, pitch the remainder - and move on... Occasionally, I couldnâ€™t spit, or pitch it! And her Hudson's Golden Gem was my favorite! I've many a graft from her collection (living on with me), but other than the russet texture of its thin potato-like skin, itâ€™s golden!

One of her youngest trees, most of it had split off with a heavy snow load. I procured some healthy wood and gave it a 'crown veneer' bark graft at the severed trunk. Painted it up pretty with yellow grafting seal; tagged and flagged it with bright orange surveyors tape, so the tractor driver couldn't miss it... But neither could the neighborhood kids walking by to school... Though the grafts had all taken, the kids had apparently snapped off the majority of them.

Anyway, she's gone, and to be honest - I havenâ€™t wanted to see if the orchard's still there it had been surrounded by new housing. But as I said, her best, along with her favorite (Strawberry Delicious) live on with me; as does my memory of Margaret Richen. If I can remember, I'll snip off some of mine and haul it into the Exchange - if you can't find any at the tables - just ask for Viron, and we'll both thank Margaret

Good info about Hudson's Golden Gem! It's one of the apples high on my list to select from for grafting onto an existing tree and also starting 5 or 6 different new trees for another location next spring; I liked the description of it and the local connection (it was discovered in Tangent, 9 miles from where I live) pretty much clinched it - though I haven't tasted one yet:)
Dave

Dave, I think you'll love the flavor and consistency; the only problem could be its russetted, or potato-skin like skin... You can always peel it, but that russetting effect can take some getting used to. If youâ€™ve had and enjoyed russet skinned apples - Ashmead's Kernel is a good one - you know what you're in for. And between those two I've found the Hudson less 'thick skinned' thus a bit better.

Good choice, but youâ€™re planning on making 5 or 6 trees of Hudson..? You'll be ready to feed bears and horses

Nope, planning 5 or 6 trees total; only one or more cultivars per tree - just haven't decided what kinds yet; other than the "winter" apple that my GF has on her current place! An haven't tried a russetted apple yet, but I'm not put off. I know they store well, and that's a good feature - I'll try everything I can get my mouth on this fall before deciding! And the Hudson Golden Gem has to be way easier to eat than say the Knobbed Russett! Thought about Ashmead's Kernel, but the local connection with the Hudson might swing it!
Dave

Wed May 30, 2007 11:17 pm

Marsha

Joined: Mon May 10, 2004 1:00 pmPosts: 204Location: SE Portland

Oh, the Ashmead is wonderful (it's one I've actually tasted - at least one Hood River orchard is growing them). There's got to be one of your other half dozen you could give up for it...

Well, it's not like I'm locked into a certain set of 5 or 6 cultivars yet; in fact I seem to have the early stages of apple collecting disease! The more research I do, the longer my list of apples to decide from gets! My main criteria is to select good tasting desert apples which mostly keep well, and wouldn't mind most of them being ones that I can't find at the local supermarket - though there are a few fairly recent apples that I really like, such as Braeburn & Jonagold. I'm not planning on starting any trees until next spring, so I'll be able to hunt down and try out most of these apples this fall, a guy I know locally has about 200 types which he raised just to try out desert apples; and he says he's got a bunch of unreleased cultivars from the Geneva Exp. Station that I'll need to try out.....Maybe just as well that I don't actually have any land myself yet!

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